New poll has Cotton ahead in Arkansas Senate race

New poll has Cotton ahead in Arkansas Senate race

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Dardanelle, holds a small advantage over Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., in a new poll released Thursday.

The survey of 750 likely Arkansas voters found 47 percent supporting Cotton and 43 percent favoring Pryor. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The poll by Rasmussen Reports was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday across the state. A similar survey conducted in February by the Republican-leaning poll had Cotton with a five-point advantage.

Since then, several other polls have found Pryor to hold the lead. In early April, a New York Times/Kaiser poll had Pryor ahead by 10 points and a late April poll by NBC News/Marist had Pryor leading by 11 points.

Real Clear Politics, which aggregates all the polling, has Pryor ahead — on average — by 2.7 points. They consider the race to be a toss up.